A blog of a primary english teacher learning about education everyday!

Patchwork pattern

I have found this activity in a BBC channel about kids, very useful, and I take it to make it with my students in arts and crafts.

You will need:

A piece of coloured paper

Some scissors

A ruler

A pencil

A glue stick

4 different types of coloured patterned paper

Part 1:

Gather together all the things that you need to make the Patchwork Pattern. Take the piece of patterned paper and turn it over. Then take the ruler and lay it along the bottom edge of the paper. Using the pencil very carefully draw a line along the top of the ruler. This will give you a strip the same width as the ruler. Take the ruler again and sit it on top of the line that you’ve just drawn and again, do the same. Carry on drawing lines all the way to the top of the page. You then need to cut these strips out but be careful as scissors are sharp. Still using the pencil and ruler draw lines across the strips. These lines again need to be about as wide as your ruler. Carry on drawing lines all the way up the strip and then cut these squares out but be careful as scissors are sharp. Do the same on the other strips and the other pieces of coloured patterned paper.

Part 2:

You should now have four piles of different coloured patterned squares. Take your piece of coloured paper and choosing a square from the pile place it in the middle of the paper and glue it down. Now choose squares from a different pile and glue them around the edge of this first square. Do the same with the other piles of squares, sticking them around the edge of the other squares on the paper. You can make your patchwork pattern as big as you like by starting again with that first colour and then repeating the pattern. If you run out of space on the edges of your paper you can just leave a gap and carry on round the other side and when you’re happy glue it all down.

Part 3:

You can use different patterned paper to create different Patchwork Pictures!

Here is the link to the web with the pictures and video with the instructions: